mystery solved

Remember I blogged this uniformed relative, and that I said I didn't know much about him, not even what kind of uniform he was wearing? Well, our dear neighbour Gerald, who is a historian, found the uniform in a book about the first world war. The reason why it was hard to find is simple. Not only was Holland neutral in the first WW, but on top of that it isn't an army uniform, it's navy. Which makes sense, because the Duvekot family lived in Goes, which is on the Scheldt river, right by the sea. Now obviously our relative wasn't a general or an admiral, like the ones in the book, maybe he was a lieutenant. The admiral has four of those beautiful stars on his collar, our ancestor only one. But the olive branch on the hat is the same, and so are the shoulder epaulets. And the sabre.